Red Dunes

 

After a pleasant dinner, we made our way down the path to our tent. I fell asleep almost immediately but Nick was still awake and heard a hyena pass through very near the tent. I woke up around 5 am and tried the shower. It was lukewarm at the hottest. Not pleasant at all as the outside temperatures are in the low 50s. We went up for breakfast, and in my head I counted the times I will need to use the path again. There was a breakfast buffet and you could order eggs. Remembering the sweet omelet in Windhoek, I ordered 2 eggs over easy. They were delicious. 

We boarded the van and drove out of the camp and then turned onto a paved road. It was heaven. We saw a jackal running. Soon we were surrounded on both sides by the beautiful red dunes. Charles explained that there are over 300 dunes, but 300 have names. We stopped near Dune 1 and Dune 7; others are named Big Daddy and Big Mommy. Some are vegetated dunes with grasses growing on them. These tend to have snakes as that’s where their prey may live. We also learned about the Dune Lark, that is only found in this area. We saw some oryx, ostrich and vultures. 

We got out of the vehicle and Charles drew a map of Namibia in the sand and showed us how the dunes were formed. Iron sediments wash down from the mountains in South Africa and end up in the Orange River where they are carried to the ocean. The ocean grinds the sediments into fine sand which the winds blow into Namibia, forming the dunes. The dunes are 6,000,000 years old. We saw where beneath some dunes were craggy gray mountains. Most of the dunes have mountains underneath them. There are three basic shapes: linear, star and bacun (rounded). The shapes are dictated by the winds. Some dunes have tan areas, and Charles explained that this is the white sands from the dry river bed that has blown onto the dunes. It was reminiscent of the glaciers in Alaska, with the debris flow down the middle. We saw Dune 45 with people on it. They looked like ants. Charles said the area is called the Namib Sand Sea as it looks like ocean waves made of the sand from the dessert. We then left the paved road and drove on very bouncy sandy conditions toward Big Daddy and the Dead Vlei. It was teeth jarring. We finally arrived at the parking area. We were not going to attempt to climb Big Daddy, but I was really looking forward to seeing the petrified trees of the Dead Vlei. Unfortunately I only walked about 100 yards before I was gasping for breath. Nick, Charles and Esther carried on without me and I rested on a bench among the Dunes. Nick later shared some photos of the preserved trees. 

We drove to Sossusvlei which means “river’s end.” It is the place where the dunes block the river from flowing. We drove back to camp and had a nice lunch. A manager asked about the water and we said it was not hot. She had the staff try to fix it and then offered to move us to Tent 17. I asked, is it steeper than this and she said no it is not as steep. I said great, let’s switch. It turned out to be a completely flat path to reach Tent 17. Hallelujah!! A nice man carried our luggage. 

We dozed in our new digs until we 5:30 when we met Charles and Esther for a sundowner. This entailed driving out of camp to a remote location to watch the sunset with a glass of wine and snacks. We saw some

Oryx, springbok and a jackal along the way. In fact we

saw the same black backed jackal 3 times. The jackal is a hunter in this area while in the savanna it is a scavenger. We stopped to look at a large bird’s nest belonging to the sociable weaver. About 80 birds had built this huge nest in an acacia tree. After sundown we returned to camp for a lovely dinner - great chicken - and headed to sleep in our new tent. The jackal was blocking our path near the tent, but Nick shooed him away. Tomorrow we head for the coast.